No character has done more to push the superhero movie genre forward than Batman. Comic book movies have come an enormously long way over the past 4 decades, from low-budget campy adventures to international juggernauts that generate billions and dominate the cinematic calendar. Although the superhero movie genre can be traced back to the 1940s, the first major Hollywood effort came in 1978 with the first Superman, starring a young Christopher Reeve in the title role. Movies based on Marvel and DC characters would release sporadically until the turn of the millennium, when an influx of new live-action superhero adventures began to arrive in rapid succession. As the potential of the movie superhero became clear, studios clamored to make more, producing untold sequels, rebooting failed projects and calling upon increasingly obscure characters.

Generally speaking, the comic book movie comes as a sub-genre of action-adventure, but more recent years (and more frequent releases) have seen greater diversity among movie superheroes, adding more comedy, darker tones, horror vibes and much more into the mix. Charting the evolution of the superhero genre, there are a number of standout films that have pushed the boundaries and forged a new path forward into unknown territory, and many of these groundbreaking moments have been accomplished by none other than DC’s Batman.

Although there are certain milestones the Caped Crusader can take no credit for - Superman brought comics to Hollywood and Marvel’s MCU spearheaded the shared universe approach to franchise-building - so many other major steps in superhero movie development have come via Batman, sometimes as a direct result of past failures. No other single character can claim to have had as much of an influence compared to how often Bruce Wayne’s night-time alter ego has opened up new doors for live-action superhero stories.

Tim Burton’s 1989 Batman Formula

Richard Donner’s Superman might’ve been the first of its kind a decade earlier, but it was Tim Burton’s Batman in 1989 that established the early template for modern superhero movies. Befitting for a movie of its storied legacy, Superman is a gloriously fun blockbuster with bright and bold renditions of famous figures such as Clark Kent, Lois Lane, Lex Luthor and Perry White. However, the 1978 effort essentially translates the comics for the big screen in a like-for-like manner, taking cues from Supe’s earliest printed appearances. As such, much of Superman might seem unfamiliar or dated to a modern audience. Gene Hackman’s Luthor, for instance, appears as a fully-formed villain with no real origin or backstory. Furthermore, the steps Luthor takes to thwart Superman are simple story beats that would be right at home in a 1940s DC comic book, but definitely wouldn’t fly with a modern movie-going audience.

For all its strengths, Superman was a comic book movie in a very literal sense, and it wasn’t until Tim Burton got hold of Batman that the genre would fall more in line with mainstream cinematic storytelling. Burton freely admitted that he wasn’t a fan of the Batman comics prior to directing the 1989 film for Warner Bros., having only really connected with Alan Moore’s “The Killing Joke.” Perhaps because of this, Burton took the basic building blocks of the Batman story and molded them into a more movie-like tale. Both Batman and Joker’s origins are revealed, and both have a more personal motivation for their feud. Meanwhile, Michael Keaton’s Batman demonstates as much human pathos as he does superhero action, providing a more rounded character than most early Batman comics.

Rather than a direct page-to-screen transfer, Tim Burton’s Batman was a cinematic interpretation of its source material, and this approach remains in use today. Comic characters aren’t lifted from one medium to another, they’re given a cinematic makeover, adding more emotive elements, more personal stakes and less comic book cartoonishness. 1989’s Batman was the progenitor of this format, blazing a trail that lives on in 2019.

Batman Forever’s Recast & Reboot

When Superman IV: The Quest For Peace died on its backside, the franchise seemed doomed. Early plans for Superman V: Reborn failed to materialize due to a number of factors, including ongoing rights issues and the previous movie’s failure. After Christopher Reeve was left with severe permanent injuries following a horse riding accident in 1995, many fans felt that any hope of a fifth movie had faded, with no one able to replace the iconic Reeve as the Man of Steel.

The Batman franchise, however, proved that neither the departure of a lead actor nor a box office bomb need hold a superhero back from the big screen for long. After Michael Keaton infamously backed out of Batman Forever, he was promptly replaced by Val Kilmer, sparking backlash from fans. The swift change-around of acting talent was a big deal in 1995, especially since the retaining of other cast members suggested the third movie existed within the same continuity as the others. The Batman franchise would change the game once again after 1997’s Batman & Robin “killed the franchise.” The Caped Crusader took a break of a mere 8 years before being rebooted under the watchful eye of Christopher Nolan.

Nowadays, swapping actors and rebooting failing franchises barely raises an eyebrow. Spider-Man has had three separate live-action incarnations since his debut, fans began mentally recasting the X-Men as soon as Fox’s deal with Disney was first reported and the MCU recast one of its main superheroes in Hulk. While these practices are common now, it was Batman that first proved the answer to a struggling franchise was simply trying again with another actor.

The Dark Knight Takes Itself (Very) Seriously

As mentioned above, the failure of George Clooney’s Batman and his infamously erect nipples directly lead to a very different version of the superhero. With Christian Bale putting on the pointy black cowl, Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy was uncompromisingly intense, framing a comic book story heavily within the confines of the real world. Any semblance of the fantastical was stripped away and replaced with a logical explanation, the bright colors of the comics were replaced with a gritty, urban gray and, perhaps most significantly of all, Nolan’s Batman movies took themselves gravely seriously, with rays of light few and far between.

Thanks to X-Men and Spiderman, superhero movies had been gradually coming to cater to adults and kids in equal measure, finding a pleasing PG-13 balance that kept fans of all ages content. The Dark Knight trilogy proved that replacing humor, color and fun with darkness, blood and grime was still a winning formula, as each movie not only struck a chord with critics, but also broke records while cleaning up at the box office. The Dark Knight trilogy highlighted a new path for the superhero movie genre and lead to other realistic or gritty interpretations such as Logan, Man of Steel and Watchmen. The success of Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy might not have dominated the entire playing field; Marvel largely still stuck to their family-friendly formula, but it certainly proved that a more mature path could still be wildly successful.

Joker Goes Off The Deep End

Although it doesn’t feature Batman as its lead, Joker is still very much a Batman film, utilizing the same characters and world as the original comics. A young Bruce Wayne also has a key presence in Todd Phillips’ 2019 DC effort. As with Batman and The Dark Knight, the release and mammoth success of Joker added a new string to the bow of the superhero movie genre. Taking the more mature, realistic ethos of Nolan to new extremes, Joker shattered the comic book movie format to its foundations, defying convention in terms of structure, story, tone and visuals. Instead of a two hour battle between good and evil, Joker offered an in-depth exploration of a single character’s psyche, more akin to a low-budget indie than a major studio release.

Joker also took the intensity and complexity of the comic book movie to new heights, dealing with the subjects of mental health, death and social degredation in a stark and uncomfortable way. It’s still far too early to measure how much influence Joker’s uniqueness will have in the long-term but, just like Nolan’s movies, the misadventures of Arthur Fleck have at least shone a light on an unexplored area of the superhero genre, proving that risky projects can still succeed, even after being stripped of any and all convention.

And, once again, it’s Batman taking the entire genre on its shoulders and bravely surging forward. Having already established the recognized superhero formula in 1989, helped make reboots and recasting a regular occurrence and proved that superheroes can take themselves super-seriously and get away with it, 2019 has seen Batman rip up the rule book entirely and open yet another door for Marvel and DC’s finest to follow.

More: The Dark Knight Had A Cameo From Blink 182 & Alkaline Trio Singer

  • Birds of Prey Release Date: 2020-02-07 Wonder Woman 2 Release Date: 2020-12-25 The Batman Release Date: 2022-03-04 Suicide Squad 2 Release Date: 2021-08-06 Black Adam Release Date: 2022-10-21 Shazam! The Fury of the Gods Release Date: 2023-03-17 Super Pets Release Date: 2022-07-29 Aquaman 2 Release Date: 2023-12-25 The Flash Movie Release Date: 2023-06-23